Great Lakes Walleye 101

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bigwoodsmn
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby bigwoodsmn » Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:13 am

Dewey wrote:
bigwoodsmn wrote:
Dewey wrote:Finally got out today to test out my new trolling gear on Winnebago, been sidetracked the last few weeks with musky. Everything worked out flawlessly thanks to all of the tips I picked up in this thread. 8-) Got a mixed bag of walleye, crappie and of course a few sheepshead mixed in today. I installed Tattle Flags on my boards and they are great for noticing smaller fish or even weeds saving some wasted trolling time with a fouled bait. My new Cabela's Depthmaster rod combo's with line counters work great for getting back to a consistant depth's repeatedly. The magic speed for me seemed to be 1.8-2.0 mph which is the slowest my 4-stroke runs. In the future I want to upgrade to a 24 volt set up trolling motor to get a little stealthier with an electric motor in shallow water. Right now my 12 volt 55 lb thrust just doesn't cut it for long periods of trolling, to reach 2 mph I have to run wide open and it kills the deep cycle battery very quickly

Had some fun learning a new tactic and can't wait to apply it to my musky fishing now that trolling is legal statewide as of July 1.


Could you connect two deep cycle batteries in 12v parallel (not 24v series) and keep the 55lb running twice as long?

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That's an option I am considering for now since my trolling motor is only a few years old. With 2 batteries I figure I would get 5-6 hours wide open. Maybe a better deep cycle battery may be an option as well. Seems like the one I'm using dies fairly quickly for only bring a few years old. My boat, motor, gear and me on board are probably about 1500 lbs. If I had to do it again I would get a bigger trolling motor right away. Rather have too much than be under powered.


http://solarcraft.net/articles/gel-vs-a ... batteries/

The gel cells are expensive but if you buy two you'll still have them (cheapest cost over life vs agm vs wet cell) when it's time to get that new 24v trolling motor.

I'd like to get some optima so I can keep up with the Jonses...

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:51 am

gjs4 wrote: Last yr we had a night when four of us limited out and had 3 over 10lbs.

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Lake Ontario? There are some real toads in there...
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:22 am

Dewey wrote:My first test run last weekend with my new planer boards taught me how hard they are to read. I caught walleye by watching my rod tip more than anything to detect a hit. I can see that the Tattle Flags could be very valuable especially for detecting small fish or even a bait fowled by weeds.

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Tip watching really helps and is why in my opinion you make sure that all your rods are the same on each side of the boat. You can then watch and compair each rod. When one is doing something different, you know you have something going on. Could be a weed that needs to be removed or could be a small fish not heavy enough to move the board or flag.

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:22 am

Dewey wrote:My first test run last weekend with my new planer boards taught me how hard they are to read. I caught walleye by watching my rod tip more than anything to detect a hit. I can see that the Tattle Flags could be very valuable especially for detecting small fish or even a bait fowled by weeds.

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Tip watching really helps and is why in my opinion you make sure that all your rods are the same on each side of the boat. You can then watch and compair each rod. When one is doing something different, you know you have something going on. Could be a weed that needs to be removed or could be a small fish not heavy enough to move the board or flag.

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:06 am

I'm going to add some "ICE" to the GLW 101 thread...
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:08 am

Going to start prefishing the 28th Annual Shiver on the River walleye contest tomorrow. It runs from January 30th - February 15th. The boundaries are the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay. Walleyes up to 14 lbs. have won this contest. Last year it was over 11 lbs. I normally fish the Bay, but this year am planning on mostly the river due to time constraints outside of the contest. I intend to post some pics from the contest, as far as other fishermen, my catch of the day, etc.

Here's a few pics from years prior on the Saginaw Bay and River:

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon:
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Ice Mountains in background are over 30 feet high:
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You can tell by my bibs and red face (a fully enclosed helmet was worn) that it can get brutal out there:
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Four and a half miles offshore on Saginaw Bay:
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:11 am

as the song goes.... "in Saginaw, Michigan!" A few more pics:

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And miles to go before I hit shore... and miles to go...
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:14 am

Ice fishing Saginaw Bay can be very dangerous, as I have personally rescued half a dozen different guys that may well have perished if I didn't come to their aid. You know things are getting hairy when Coast Guard Air Station Detroit and Air Station Traverse City both have copters rocketing out onto the Bay with flares shooting skyward from the ice many miles offshore... I shake my head when a couple of weeks have passed since I felt it was safe and guys are still going out there. A couple of tips:

* Use up to date satellite images of the Greak Lakes and Saginaw Bay to see that it is frozen completely across.

* Never travel alone, which many do... always ask a group of other guys if you can follow them out on the bay with your sled or quad. The answer will almost always be "no problem." When they stop to set up, DO NOT CROWD THEM, give them some space and set up yourself unless they volunteer it is alright to fish with them.

* Use a RAM mount for your GPS on the handlebar of your snowmobile or quad. Mark every spot you cross a pressure crack. If the weather kicks up and you have no visibility, especially after dark, you need to know where it is safe to cross or you could end up in peril / swimming / dead.

There's a lot more, but these are necessities. Fishermen die every year on the Bay, and they will this year as well.
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:17 am

SB stories from "Shiver on the River"...

A few years back, I crossed the "Death Crack" about 4 miles offshore, This immense pressure crack was 70 yards of open water in many areas, other areas the ice packs came within a couple of feet of each other (I GPS'd the crossing as I flew across it at 50 mph). A small portable shanty city had erected on the far side with me. After fishing about an hour, a Coast Guard Helicopter from Air Station Detroit desccended on me... literally. The pilot stopped the bird directly above me, about 150 feet up, and hovered in place. I could see the pilot plain as day, and wondered if the Death Crack was widening? The Bay was frozen across, but what was this guy doing? Then I realized I was sitting on his waypoint, and he likely needed to be on the Death Crack to do a search and rescue. He finally banked the bird over to the crack and began systematically searching it for humans in the water.

Right about then I heard the roar of Coast Guard Station Bay City's giant airboat, with Coast Guard rescue divers going by me with suits and oxygen tanks already on... The bird had located a body, a snowmobiler that had driven into the open water (guys do this every year... drugs and alcohol??? Pure stupidity???). It was then that I saw the Boom Lights turn on up at the Linwood launch, a Beacon of bright light for the rescuers to bring whatever they found to the waiting fire departments and ambulance. They found the snowmobiler floating and recovered the body, putting it into the airboat. The bird from Air Station Detroit left, but before the airboat could get halfway to the launch, it turned around for the Death Crack once again... and I could see the helicopter returning... Another snowmobiler had just driven his sled into the Death Crack at a high rate of speed, but was still alive. They rescued him and put him on the airboat next to the dead body.

Below: The Linwood launch, moving the deceased into a waiting ambulance- a sad ending to what had been great adventure. The next stop across that ice ... is Canada. It's no place for wahoos or greenhorns...


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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:24 am

Yesterday was a banner day ice fishing for walleye. I slept in until noon, then headed to The Party Dock for minnows and snacks:

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BEER - BOOZE - BAIT - TACKLE

The Party Dock sign pretty much sums it up! Great spot for minnows, you ask for a dozen and they give you three.

It's not every day you get to icefish for walleye next to a destroyer!

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After a while, it was time to put some smoked sausage on the propane heater... bun / mustard / relish... tough day so far!

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For a while I was pulling walleyes out as fast as I could real them in... I quit counting at 15. Most of them were undersized and small, but I loaded up on eaters too. Here's my best walleye of the afternoon, about five pounds:

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Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, what do you think?

I'll be headed for The Party Dock again sometime soon!

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:27 am

The goal my brother and I established was to get our family name on the leaderboard for our two walleye ice fishing tournaments- thanks to my brother, mission accomplished. With thousands of walleye fishermen in the tournaments that run for several weeks it was no small feat to crack
the top ten. We have caught hordes of smaller walleye, we kept moving and strategizing and finally hit a pod of big fish. Pics to follow, still a long way from home!

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:37 am

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby superseal » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:40 am

Good stuff Bridge! We usually fish Lake Erie as it is closer but have made several trips to Sag Bay also. Not sure Erie will make ice this year?

How is the ice shaping up on the Bay?
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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:40 am

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Re: Great Lakes Walleye 101

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:47 am

That is sage advice- holding a spot like that is critical to future success in that location. Part of the key to our success is finding pods of big walleye- let me rephrase that- UNDISTURBED pods of big walleye. Which means they are not being disturbed by the hordes of icefishermen which allows us to get a positive response from the fish themselves. No quadrunners and snowmobiles racing back and forth... no groups of busy icefishermen stomping around and drilling incessantly with power augers...

A modern aspect of walleye tournament fishing is networking. The guys who are consistently the most successful in walleye tournaments have vast networks of contacts on their cell phones in order to get accurate, up to the minute information. Although the information shared is in generalities, not specifics, this can go a long way toward experienced tournament fishermen cracking a leaderboard. I do not need to know your exact spot, so to speak, but if I can get within a mile or two of your big water spot or river location, I can generally figure it out on my own.

There is a big difference between being 5 miles out on Saginaw Bay, for example, or fishing two big cities upstream from the mouth of the main Bay tributary.

When word got out of my brother's fish, our cell phones blew up with inquiries- and just like Hodag suggested- we'd better hold on to that spot! 8-)


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